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So the American League East champion Red Sox have completed one of the organization’s most entertaining regular seasons in a long time. They now prepare for a post-season that frankly could end by Sunday or could end with an early November parade. Even under baseball’s variable circumstances 2016 feels like a very open season.

The Sox head into this post-season with some good and bad things happening. I want to touch on a few of each;
Concerns:

So this list is just meant to be related to his time with the Red Sox. I don’t feel like getting in a spitting match over his first hit or home run or grand slam (at Fenway!) or walk off and I’m not knowledgeable enough about his Minnesota time to consider any of those events seriously. In keeping with the low key approach that the Sox will be taking to Papi’s regular season send off this weekend here is one man’s opinion of David Ortiz’ greatest moments (so far);

Since the Cubs actually cliched, and even well before that when it was inevitable, I found it easy to push a bunch of minor concerns out of my mind. Usually a quick “Yeah, but that won’t matter until October” was enough to mentally move on. Now that the playoffs are just a (long, long) week away, the doubts have started creeping back in. So, in the remaining 8 days until the Cubs play their next meaningful game, here are the things that worry me.

After a long season the Sox did what they did in 1986 and 2007 and clinched the division on September 28. 158 games is a lot of games but even in those games there are moments that matter. With that in mind, here are ten key moments from the 2016 season;

Opening Day – John Farrell writes Travis Shaw’s name on the lineup card.

So this was not a surprise obviously but it was important. Farrell had a similar moment in 2013 with Jackie Bradley though this worked a bit better. The important ...

For 1997, each voter should rank the top 14 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 5 October 2016.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If you have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 4 October 2016.

The Sox have earned themselves at least a berth in the Wild Card game and if all goes well will return home Friday night with the division wrapped up. In any case, just the fact that they will at least play in the Wild Card game means that it is worth considering a playoff roster.

(Jose rereads intro, nods satisfied that he’s put enough caveats in to not be accused of jinxing anything, moves on)

The Sox rolled with eleven pitchers in 2013 and I suspect there is no reason to expect otherwise ...

For years we had the treat of watching Terry Francona execute his “Playoff Tito” persona. Even in the great run of 2013 it seemed that sometimes John Farrell was a bit cautious with his bullpen. In this nine game winning streak, and even going back to the Toronto series, I think we have started to see a real “Playoff Farrell” at work.

As the Sox begin a crucial four game stretch in Baltimore it is worth taking a moment to look back at the last week of baseball and some of the concerns that exist there. It has been said and repeated that you are not as good as you look when you win nor as bad as you look when you lose. The Sox over the past week have in my opinion been fairly fortunate.

Since crushing Toronto in the first game of the series last Friday night the Sox have played nine games. In those nine games they have ...

We’ve talked about this off and on in so many different threads and chatters, figured it was time to create a dedicated thread now that the Cubs have clinched. I’ll put any new predictions in the comments. But this is what I’m guessing will be the roster, not what I want it to be.

Starters:
Contreras
Rizzo
Baez
Russell
Bryant
Zobrist
Fowler
Heyward

I think we’re going to see Baez start at either 3b (for Lester’s start, with Bryant in LF) or 2b (the other guys, with Zobrist in LF) for the ...